Killington, VT (Tuesday, June 20, 2006) - Vermont ski areas recorded 4,147,467 skier visits for the 2005-06 ski and snowboard season, a nearly 6 percent decline from last year according to the Vermont Ski Areas Association at its Annual Meeting at Killington Resort. Despite the decrease in skier visits, Vermont remains the number three ski state behind Colorado and California, barely eclipsing Utah, which made a strong bid for third place with a record ski and snowboard season.

"The past season was certainly a challenging one for the industry," said Parker Riehle, president of the Vermont Ski Areas Association. "With our resorts' ever-improving snowmaking and grooming capabilities, we were able to survive the wildly variable weather patterns that seemed to hit hardest during our key holiday periods and finish the season stronger than many had predicted. Given the strength of the Vermont winter brand and how well-positioned Vermont skiing is in the marketplace, we fared much better than the rest of the Northeast which was down 9 percent from last year."

Ski Utah, the marketing arm for the Utah Ski and Snowboard Association, also today announced its official skier day numbers for the 2005-06 winter season, following an earlier estimate that was calculated two weeks prior to Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort's May 29 closing. While there was speculation within the ski industry that Utah's third consecutive record-breaking year would eclipse Vermont and slide into third place nationally, the final tally reached 4,062,188, a 3.8 percent increase over the previous ski season but still 85,279 skier visits behind Vermont.

Utah's Summit County, home to The Canyons Resort, Deer Valley Resort and Park City Mountain Resort, reported 1,715,536 skier days, marking the county's fourth consecutive record-breaking season. This figure represents a 6.7 percent increase over the 2004-05 season for those three ski resorts as a group.